Peterpools

John Nice to see the SBD is underway and scaling down the chart is a nice detail and touch.

Rob My money would have been riding on you to be more then prepared both modeling and historically to tackle such a demanding project. I just am amazed how you quickly adapted and embraced the talents and skills needed for wood ship modeling. Your approach to learning and absorbing new skills as a challenge rather then a roadblock, is how we should approach all projects.

Rob Did you ever imagine so much nautical knowledge, learning and homework would be needed as you approached this build? Amazing work for so many reasons besides bench time.

Phil Nice going - looks perfect

Oliver So very much appreciated. Right now, just a nice size bump in the road and I'm hoping by next weekend to have all the painting done.

Phil Undersides look really good, neat, clean and no seams at all. Color modulation ... hope you're pulling our leg. For me. looks great.

Hi Gus, much appreciated. Thank you for your thoughts on Mig and AK paints. White I've never used AK Real Colors (I do use their Real Metals), I've used Ammo by Mig for years and no issues with them at all. I'm just not sure why the two colors I used from their RAF WWI Late paint set are just so different then the Tamiya paint colors but I guess that is the way with all paint brands having different interpretations of the colors. Shame on me for not doing a quick test before or at least right before going at it with the Spit. I'm sure if I wasn't trying to match two models in color that I had already built, I never would have known the difference.

For those old enough to remember the TV show: Leave it to Beaver, Tony Dow who played Wally passed away today at 77. May he fly west. Peter

John Terrific choices for your next build and I'll be front and center for the journey which is always like flying on the Concord.

Phil Live and learn and after 74 years, I'm still learning. Thanks for help filling in their history as it does add a lot to understanding their product lines. The past three years or so, I've become so conscious of all the safety issues of model paints, my 'always' routine is to wear a very good respirator and shoot in my paint booth, no matter what the paint type. I keep bouncing back and forth between lacquers and acrylics mainly on the color issue and for which medium shoots best for me: lacquer wins hands down. Of course, if I had my choice and if the full range of Model Master Enamels were readily available, I would use them 110% of the time, but those days are gone. back in the day, I loved Pactra Enamels but they are long gone as well.

Phil Same here. I was hoping they would be conventional decal subjects just without the carrier film.

I've been reading reviews and have been to their seb site. It seems that the decals that do not have carrier film are letter and number sheets and not full aircraft sheets, or at least I haven't found them yet. Still a great idea and one better then Eduart's where the carrier film needs to be peeled off.

Rob Very nice progress on the first chapter of rigging. The wooldings (see I already learned something new today) look perfect and thank you for including the instructions showing how they are to be tied.

Rob No one to blame but myself. The AK paints are now on their way and hopefully by the weekend the Spit will be repainted. I've learned my lesson and before committing to air brushing a second time, I'll do a color test to be sure. Thank you for the info regarding Ammo by Mig and AK, I knew there was a connection in the past buy not that much.

Thanks Paul I've now been on the site and started looking for reviews. So far, the carrierless decals have had positive reviews and I'm still looking for more reviews. Thinking of giving them a try, especially on a NMF aircraft, which I think is the hardest surface to decals and have the carrier film vanish, especially if you are looking at the markings on an angle.

Phil I haven't heard of the company or read any reviews but No Carier Film Decals sound fantastic. I'll do a little checking and see what I can find out.

Peri's Models: Does anyone know if the site is still active and if Peri is alright - as he hasn't done an update in 5 months. I've followed his work for many years and enjoy his style of building and creativity.

Thanks Carl It's my own fault and I should have tested the Mig paints color wise to double check and didn't. Much appreciate the heads up on the AK Real Colors as I have never used them before. When the arrive later this week, I'll do a quick test to see how they align with the Tamiya paints in color before committing. .

BACKTRACKING AND THEN MAKING PROGRESS AGAIN Backtraking The two upper fuselage cammo colors were on and done and I felt something was wrong. The Migs colors just didn't look right to me, as the Ocean Gray had a distinct bluish tint and the dark green was too light and a bit too lively. All the lights on my bench are 5000K Daylight and the recessed ceiling lights are 5000K Daylight LEDs as well - so the room illumination (Color Balance) wasn't the cause. I compared the Mig colors to my Tamiya Mossie and Spit Mk IXc and they confirmed for me, the Mig colors aren't the same and not what I wanted. I wanted the colors to be the same or very close, as both. were painted using Tamiya acrylic paints. Of course, I didn’t have the paints in my stash and couldn’t find all three from either of my go to venders and ordered AK Real Colors lacquers as my next choice. I've decided not to strip the Spit back to plastic as most of the filler I used was Mr Surfacer, as I normally strip paint with Self Leveling Thinners and that would eat into the Mr Surfacer. So, the plan is to just lightly wet sand the top colors back and repaint from there. The Prop & Hub The prop blades needed a wee bit of clean up, then were, primed and then painted with Tamiya LP-5 Semi Black, which laid down super smooth. Of course, someday I’ll remember to paint the tips yellow first and save myself a lot of work. The tips now needed to be masked and painted with MRP Insignia White FS17875, followed up with Mr Color 329 Yellow. Going to take a mulligan as a senior moment. Since I wasn’t going to have the spinner assembly removable or left off, I couldn’t see any reason to do any detail painting on the Hub as virtually nothing will be seen. The Hub assembly was painted with Alclad ALC 116 Semi Matt Aluminum followed up with a pin wash of Tamyia Dark Brown Panel Line Accent Color to pick out the details (have no idea why I even did this much). The Spinner I had already deepened all the screw holes on the spinner, so they would hold a pin wash. The spinner and back plate were primed, air brushed with Mig Sky Type S and followed up with Mr Color #46 Clear Gloss. All the screw holes were picked out with Tamiya Black Panel Line Wash and when dry, a final clear coat of Alclad 311 Light Sheen. The Gear. The kit’s wheels and tires were replaced with a resin set from Barracuda. The center of the wheel had to be drilled out so the axel would fit snuggly in place. Primed with MRP Black Primer and then the wheels air brushed with Alclad ALC 101 Aluminum. The tires were finished off in Tamiya XF-85 Rubber Black and sealed with Alclad ALC 312 Clear Semi Matt. Gear doors and Struts Assembled and primed. The oleos were air brushed with Tamiya LP1 Gloss Black, followed up with Alclad Chrome and when dry, masked off. The gear doors and main gear were air brushed with Mig Medium Sea Gray, followed up with Tamiya Clear gloss lacquer, a pin wash with Tamiya Black Panel Line and then sealed with Alclad ALC 311 Semi Matt Sheen. The kit rubber brake lines (yes, real rubber) and oleo scissors (drilled out) were added. Drop Down Cockpit Door As with the wheels and tires, I discarded the kit part and used Barracuda’s beautiful resin casting, with sharper details, a separate crow bar and offered two styles of door stencil decals, in two colors. I went with the black center section stencil data one and painted the crow bar aluminum, which is correct for this mark and time period. Still to be added is the hinge on the upper ledge of the door fastening it to the fuselage. A lot of work for a small number of parts. Thanks for checking in. I normally do not like to post macro images as the part or assembly is being viewed unrealistically and as we would not see them in the flesh. The Prop Assembly is only being test fitted and nothing committed to glue yet. Propblade decals still need to be added, The Drop Down Door still needs the resin hing added and a bit more cleanup

John Brilliant save from the SOD. Deep down I knew you just needed a break wrestling with the Skyraider's issues after having just gone through even more with your Helldiver. It was only a matter of time for the juices to start flowing and you tackled all the issues. Beautiful work as always, the finish is spot on the money and looking so good.

😉

Sure did

John Thanks and you're right, it's always something. I'm pretty sure I can sand back the paint and be ready for the AK lacquers when they show up this week. Painted and lightly weathered the gear, prop and drop-down door assemblies and trying to just get all the smaller sub-assemblies done and ready.

Hubert I sure hope they aren't as the Mig paints are water based acrylics and the AK are acrylic lacquers. My biggest problem with the Mig paints were the colors and from what I can see online, AK colors seem a lot closer to what I am looking for and match Tamiya really closely. See what happens when they show up this week ... fingers crossed.

FIRST PITFALL Started the cammo and after the upper surfaces were done; I fell off my chair - Migs colors just didn't look right to me at all. The Ocean Gray had a distinct bluish tint and the dark green was too light and a bit too lively; just didn't sit right with me. All the lights on my bench are 5000K Daylight and the recessed ceiling lights are 5000K LEDs - so the room illumination (Color Balance) wasn't the cause. I compared the Mig colors to my Tamiya Mossie and Spit Mk IXc and they confirmed for me, the Mig colors aren't the same and not what I wanted. I decided to repaint the Spit and of course, I didn't have the Tamiya paints needed in my stash: XF-1 Dark Green, XF-82 Ocean Gray & XF-83 Medium Sea Gray and neither of my go to venders had all three and I wasn't going to pay for shipping twice. I wound up ordering AK Real Colors (lacquer) and will need to repaint when they arrive hopefully by mid-week. I've decided not to strip the Spit back to plastic as most of the filler I used was Mr Surfacer and I normally strip paint with Self Leveling Thinners and that would eat into the Mr Surfacer. So, the plan is to just lightly wet sand the top colors back and repaint from there. There still is a lot of detail paint work to do, so on with the show. I haven't taken any photos of the Spit in this stage as it's a bit too painful. I'm only going on my feel for the colors and wanting to keep my collection of consistent.